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Monday, February 26, 2018

Episode 409 (2-26-18): The Underground World of Buried "Ghost Streams"

Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, images, and additional information follow below.

All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 2-23-18.TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of February 26, 2018.

MUSIC – ~9 sec

This week, that excerpt from “Rusty Piper” by the Blacksburg- and Roanoke-based band No Strings Attached opens an episode about an ecosystem hidden in pipes. For that story, I'm joined by guest host Brynn O’Donnell.

This week we’re diving down to explore an ecosystem hidden beneath the ground, and learn about how our actions in towns can affect water bodies downstream. Have a listen for about 10 seconds to this mystery sound, and see if you can guess what underground ecosystem you’re hearing.

Take note of your feet, and feel how the soles of your shoes press up against the floor—hard to imagine you've been walking on water, right?

In downtown Blacksburg, Va., that’s exactly what people are doing. The stream you heard runs under buildings, sidewalks, and roadways, and most people don’t even realize it’s there. In many cities and towns, an entire aquatic ecosystem flows similarly under the pavement—an invisible network of “ghost streams,” streams that once used to run above ground, but we’ve now buried in pipes so that we could construct buildings on top. Humans have been burying streams since the Roman Empire, but we still don’t fully understand what happens when we do that. How these streams have changed, and the impacts of those changes on downstream waterways, is the focus of my research at Virginia Tech.

Although we’ve buried these streams, we haven’t quite put them to rest. Ghost streams are still beneath us, and still flowing, but they’re drastically changed from a more natural stream. Such buried streams aren’t exposed to light or freely moving air, impacting organisms typically on the bottom of a stream or growing alongside of one.

If you recall the process of photosynthesis, plants need light, air, and nutrients to grow. And although we don’t normally think of algae in streams as plants, they conduct photosynthesis, too, and they’re important components of natural streams, particularly in the use of nutrients. Without light inside pipes, algae and streamside plants can’t survive. With no life, buried streams can’t remove nutrients, so any nutrients that run off from cities into these streams are shuttled straight downstream. This helps lead to nutrient buildups in downstream lakes, ponds, or other water bodies, in turn causing too much algae growth. While algae perform important functions, other life is harmed by an algae over-abundance, such as when one sees a thick, green sludge on top of lakes or ponds.

With this possible sequence of events, sometimes it seems as if ghost streams are haunting us. But moving forward through research and learning more about buried streams, we can understand how to mitigate their impact by promoting the retention of nutrients and the revitalization of life.

Thanks to No Strings Attached for permission to use this week’s music, and as a note to stream ecosystems buried beneath us in pipes, we close with a few more seconds of “Rusty Piper.”

MUSIC - ~14 sec

SHIP’S BELL

For more Virginia water sounds, music, and information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This week’s script was based on Brynn O’Donnell’s November 4, 2017, presentation of her research in the Nutshell Games, conducted by Virginia Tech’s Center for Communicating Science. A video of that presentation is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8QkWhXrbLk. As of February 2018, Brynn was a master’s student in the Virginia Tech Department of Biological Sciences. For more information about Brynn’s work with buried streams, contact her at brynno@vt.edu. Virginia Water Radio thanks Brynn for developing and hosting this episode.

The sounds heard in this episode were of a branch of Stroubles Creek flowing under Draper Road in Blacksburg, Va., recorded on February 10, 2018; footsteps were heard in the audio because the stream at that point is under a staircase between the street and sidewalk.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode. More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.PHOTOS

A branch of Stroubles Creek emerging from
underground on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.Photo courtesy of Brynn O’Donnell.

A branch of Stroubles Creek under Draper Road
in Blacksburg, Va., February 10, 2018 (site of the audio used in this episode of Virginia Water Radio).

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio

This site includes audio files featuring sounds and music that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean. Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show's content. Thanks to George Wills of Blacksburg, Va., for designing the Virginia Water Radio logo.